Probably the best memoir I've ever read. Wolff chronicles his life from 10-18 as he and his mother drive across the US and dead-end in Seattle during the '50s and '60s. His mother reluctantly remarries and ships the newly minted "Jack" off to her new husband and his family in rural Washington State. Most of Toby/Jack's life is unbelievably sad but his relationship with his mother keeps him from turning completely sour on life. Told in episodic vignettes, Wolff writes beautifully about the major and minor events that shape his adolescence. Not for the lighthearted but worth sticking with!